As it is, his well-balanced lifestyle, killer physique and down-to-earth nature made him the perfect man to represent Men's Health.

"Chill out. It's when you become a bit obsessive that a diet becomes difficult. If you're a little bit flexible about it, your don't get worried if you do go and have a burger." - Julian Growcott]]

"My dad used to play for Hawthorn in the AFL, so growing up we were always encouraged to play outdoors and participate in sports. I'd always loved being active, but when I was 18 some guy who I got into a dust-up with on the footy field called me 'spaghetti arms'! That stung a bit and that's when I started going to the gym.


2009 Men's Health Man - Julian Growcott @ Yahoo!7 Video

"I've been teaching for seven years. It's an active job and the kids require a lot of energy to keep them interested. I love taking them out for games and sports, and there's not a shadow of a doubt that being fit and healthy lets you do that.

"I teach a lot of young boys who come from single-parent families, live with their mums and don't know their dads particularly well. They come to see you as a bit of a father-figure. They love it when you go out at lunchtime and kick the footy or play cricket with them, because their parents don't necessarily do that. If I can be a positive role model and show them that you can be fit and healthy, I feel like I've done my job.


"If I'm having a bad day, the kids' playtime lunches usually cop a bit of a pummelling. Seriously, though, I lament some of the things they've got in their lunch boxes. You think, 'Gees, it's setting them up for a bit of trouble later on', so I do promote healthy eating and try to convey a fairly positive image. I run 'healthy-eating weeks' and started a daily exercise program with my kids in which we walked laps every morning and plotted the distances on a map. By the end of the year we'd done a lap of Australia! I had a couple of kids who were overweight, and one in particular probably dropped five kilos. His mum was beside herself.


"I try to get to the gym four times a week. One day I do chest, shoulders and legs; the next day back and arms, have a day off and then do it all again. Like everyone, I've got a busy job, a girlfriend, friends and family and have to take care of all the day-to-day things that crop up. You do have to plan ahead a little bit and get into a routine. It's not easy to strike that happy balance, but I do try my best to prioritise areas of my life that I think are important, like my health and fitness.

"I believe making small changes is the key. If you make wholesale changes they're harder to keep up. It only takes small changes to notice improvements in strength and fitness, etc, which provides you with the incentive to keep going and make more changes. It's a slow process, but if you stick with it, you'll get the results."